Helping music to go Beyond Borders

Published: 12 Jun 2017

Cryptic, Falkirk Community Trust and Sound Festival are amongst the eight UK and Ireland based organisations and music groups to receive funding through Beyond Borders co-commissioning and touring programme, PRS for Music Foundation have announced.

Established in 2010, Beyond Borders is a co-commissioning and touring programme run by PRS for Music in partnership with Creative Scotland, Arts Council of Wales, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Arts Council of Ireland / An Chomhairle Ealaíon. It supports high quality co-commissions and tours, stimulating collaboration between composers, performance groups and music organisations across the four different UK countries and the Republic of Ireland.

The latest organisations and music groups receiving funding are:

Cryptic – the UK tour of Oliver Coates’ first full length music theatre, Shorelines is set in the aftermath of the North Sea flood of 1953 is a work for string quartet (Ragazze Quartet) and electronics commissioned by Cryptic, in partnership with Belfast International Arts Festival, Sound Aberdeen and Southbank Centre, London

Decibel Ensemble –a landmark 35-minute work ‘Togetherness’ for amplified large ensemble and electronic media by the acclaimed Northern Irish composer Ed Bennett. The work explores the contradictory notions of independence, pluralism and unity in music, culture and society, and will tour in Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland

Falkirk Community Trust –a live dynamic alternative reinterpretation of Mazzetti’s ground-breaking work together with acclaimed musician/composers Raymond MacDonald and Christian Ferlaino composed for saxophone and percussion, with engagement opportunities for D/deaf/HoH audiences.

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival - A new commission for UK harpist and composer Rhodri Davies, for voice and ensemble working with different systems of time to govern musical interactions. Touring to Huddersfield, Cardiff and Glasgow.

Snowpoet - an ambitious tour for album number 2 across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Ireland

Sound Festival – a new cross art-form project from composer Colin Riley exploring ‘a sense of place’ comprising a 70-minute multi-media song cycle for singer and 4-piece instrumental/electronic ensemble which will be toured across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Wallace Collection Ensemble – Composer Jay Capperauld will shake up the British brass band movement with an exciting and atmospheric new work for brass quintet and brass band called ‘New Moves for The Movement’ to be toured in Scotland, England and Wales

PRS Foundation’s CEO, Vanessa Reed said: “This fund encourages creative collaboration across borders, and in doing so enables some incredibly rich commissions to come to fruition. The range and quality of music creators and organisations in this round presents exciting opportunities for audiences in the UK and Ireland to discover new music.”

Clare Hewitt, Music Officer at Creative Scotland, said: “The creative sparks ignited by the artists and producers who will bring these projects to life illuminate what is possible when collaboration is at the heart of an idea.

"We are excited about the prospect of so many people throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland being able to share in the creative energy that will be spread through the live performances, tours and recordings of this year’s Beyond Borders projects.”

Previous Beyond Borders successes have included Songs of Separation, a collective of 10 female English and Scottish folk musicians whose album won ‘Best Album’ at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards this year, and David Fennessy's ‘Panopticon’, commissioned by Hebrides and Psappha, which won the Scottish Award for New Music for Small Scale work. Martin Green’s ‘Flit’, combining live music and animation which reflects on first hand stories of migration, also won over audiences and critics nationwide last year, and was funded through Beyond Borders.

Notes to editors

About PRS Foundation

PRS Foundation is the UK's leading funder of new music and talent development. Since 2000 PRS Foundation has given more than £26.5 million to over 5,750 new music initiatives by awarding grants and leading partnership programmes that support music sector development. Widely respected as an adventurous and proactive funding body, PRS Foundation supports an exceptional range of new music activity – from composer residencies and commissions to festivals and showcases in the UK and overseas.

About Creative Scotland

Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here. We enable people and organisations to work in and experience the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland by helping others to develop great ideas and bring them to life. We distribute funding provided by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery. For further information about Creative Scotland please visit www.creativescotland.com . Follow us @creativescots and www.facebook.com/CreativeScotland

About Arts Council Ireland

The Arts Council of Ireland/An Chomhairle Ealaíon is the Irish government agency for developing the arts. We work in partnership with artists, arts organisations, public policy makers and others to build a central place for the arts in Irish life. The Council recognises that the arts have a central and distinctive contribution to make to our evolving society. Established in 1951, to stimulate public interest in and promote the knowledge, appreciation and practice of the arts, the Council is an autonomous body, which is under the aegis of the Department of Arts, Heritage & Gaeltacht.

About Arts Council of Northern Ireland

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is the lead development agency for the arts in Northern Ireland providing the main support for artists and arts organisations throughout the region through a range of funding opportunities. The Arts Council distributes public money and National Lottery funds to organisations that develop and deliver arts programmes across all society. http://www.artscouncil-ni.org/

About Arts Council Wales

Arts Council of Wales is responsible for funding and developing the arts in Wales.

Arts Council of Wales is an independent charity, established by Royal Charter in 1994. Its members are appointed by the Welsh Government’s Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism. Working together with the Welsh Government, the Arts Council of Wales is able to show how the arts are helping to meet the Government’s policy ambitions. Our vision is of a creative Wales where the arts are central to the life of the nation. We want to make sure that all children and young people in Wales can enjoy the arts as a member of the audience as a visitor, as a participant and as a creator. Our aims are to make the case for children, young people and the arts; nurture creative potential and help arts activity for children and young people to become more durable and sustainable. http://www.artswales.org.uk/